Mid-January

I’m on my way from my home in Derry, Northern Ireland – literally four days after launching Play Diaries – for a three hour trip across the border to the Republic of Ireland. Depending which way you’re going from in Derry, if you head east, you can be heading across into the border into Bridgend in Co Donegal within 15-to-20 minutes or Lifford – also in Donegal – in 45 minutes if you head south via the town of Strabane in Co Tyrone.

However, for this adventure, we’re having to go through Belfast to Dundalk for Run for the Border, a meet up between the Irish game development communities in both countries.

The event takes place in the shadow of Brexit two weeks after, but unbeknownst to what would happen months down the road with the worldwide Covid-19 outbreak. But before all of that, the event sees a jovial and friendly crowd as it hears from a pack of speakers on their respective works: how to make and publish your own boardgame, the experiences from funding some of Northern Ireland’s games scene, making 3D art on a budget and how the idea for Northern Ireland’s biggest games production ever came to be respectively.

Not to mention, chatting and nattering over a few drinks and a few slices of pizza. All that good craic.

“The mentality behind it was that we all became aware that the Northern Irish and the Republic of Ireland rarely get together on the island,” says Run for the Border lynchpin and Italic Pig boss Kevin Beimers. “We might go to San Francisco and bump into a few familiar faces at GDC, might do the same thing at gamescom, but in terms of the North going down to State of Play or the South coming up to the Belfast Media Festival, there’s not a lot of transfer there.

“It’s almost like it’s just a little bit too far away to spend a day on it, you save your money for another bigger event. So we thought if we could get the two teams together, we’re so close, it’s a two hour drive the there might be partnerships, there might be ways that different funds could be used against each other.”

Adds Vicky Potts, co-founder of Belfast-based Murder at Malone Manor developer Whitepot Studios: “The general vibe for Run for the Border, like it’s really got that kind of friendly, you know, everyone’s really excited to see each other type thing. When you arrive, you get these unrelated sort of trading cards almost. So it’ll be like different names for different games or TV shows and you have to sort of swap with other people to try and collect all of the same set.

“It’s got that sort of feel when you’re starting a new year at school or whatever, and you’re trying to find someone to trade Pokemon cards within the playground. Yeah, it’s good. It’s fun, friendly.”

In a special feature-length episode of Press Play, we delve into Run for the Border, how Northern Ireland’s biggest games production ever in Paleo Pines came into existence but almost didn’t (as already written about here, though this episode has more details and background than what’s in the piece), how Brexit will affect the scene and how both the North and South can collaborate together among several subject matters.